Of Truth and Lies
by crystalline'maia
Summary: Misaki's lovelife is torn between three men: an escaped criminal, a mafia boss, and a . . . restaurant janitor. AU.
1. Prologue

**Of Truth and Lies**

In a dark, smelly and dingy prison cell, three men shared the pitiful place. They had three old hanging wooden benches to sleep on respectively, but it wasn't much of a comfort. A single broken sink was attached to a wall, beside it was a mercilessly vandalized wooden desk, and a chair with the similar characteristics to add. There was not a bulb, not even a candle inside the cell; the only source of light they had was the orangey glow of the fluorescent bulb peeking through the thick steel bars, forming dark strips of shadows on the roughly cemented floor.

The bright strip reached the person sitting on the floor, somehow making a bright line over his spiky blonde hair.

"Hey, you there," said another person, sitting on his hanging bench opposite to the blonde.

"What?" the blonde replied, his green eyes slightly glaring.

"Wanna have a one-nighter?"

"Nah, I'm straight, you see."

"Damn," cursed the person sitting on his hanging bench, then he turned to the third person in the room, who was sitting on the vandalized chair backwards. "How 'bout you?"

"Had enough before I was here, don't wanna do it anymore," the person sitting on the chair said with a bored tone.

"You were a rapist?"

"Yeah, couldn't get enough on those days, now my family doesn't have anyone to look up to. Shitty reality . . ."

"Couldn't agree more. So you're name's – what's it again – Shirou?" asked the person on the hanging bench.

"Shino," said the person on the chair.

"And you, pretty boy?" he asked the one sitting on the floor. "Tatsuya?"

"Takumi."

"Right, well, Shino, Takumi, look what Kenji has," he said with a mischievous grin, holding up a silverware spoon.

"Where did you get that?" asked Shino, his once bored tone now filled with anticipation.

Kenji gestured them to come nearer to him, and both did so. "Dropped by the waiter last night, when big people were having dinner here with the warden. Picked it up and here we are," he whispered excitedly. "All we need now is a soft spot of a wall."

"I know where," said Takumi at once, smirking. He then pointed at the spot under the vandalized table. "Termites can get in by digging through, so it must be twice as easy for _us _to dig through."

"All right then, we'll take turns, I'll be first, Shino's next, and Takumi," declared Kenji, immediately crouching under the table and digging the cement.

"We'll be free in no time." Shino stretched his arms and sat on his hanging bench. 

"I've already said it a million times, Tamaki, give me the numbers or _die_."

It was nighttime in the city's less passed-by streets, and as usual, the most notorious mafia in the city was out at it again. The boss, wearing a black suit and deep black shades, was looking down at a shivering, fat businessman who almost wishing he was just part of the wall behind him.

Seven more black-clad mafia members were each pointing a heavy-caliber gun at the businessman. Possibly three to five more were on the building rooftops, snipers ready in their hands.

"All right! I'll give you my account, but please don't kill me!" the businessman named Tamaki said desperately, kneeling on the mafia boss' feet.

"Awww, really, Tamaki?" taunted the boss.

"Yes! Yes! Here – here! It's all there, it's all genuine!" Tamaki hastily pulled out a folder from his satchel and held it to the boss.

The boss scanned the papers in the folder, then smirked at Tamaki. "That settles it then."

Tamaki's face brightened with relief. "You'll free me now? I'm not going to get killed?"

The mafia boss crouched down in level with Tamaki. Slowly sliding up his shades, he ran his fingers through his light blonde hair and smirked at the shocked businessman.

"Y – you're Tora Igarashi, son of the CEO of the Igarashi group. But how – why?" Tamaki was stuttering.

Tora stood with ease and pocketed his shades. "This is just for fun, honestly. I always needed to make a good image out of every person I meet, for the group's level of superiority, and of course I got tired with it and yeah . . ." he said in a drawling voice while examining his fingernails. "Otou-sama [more respectful name for 'father'] doesn't seem to be bothered with it anyway, so he consented me with having my own mafia, you know, for my fun, and at the same time to get rid of all those useless shit working in his company. So as long as this is a secret, Igarashi group will remain clean and trusted, won't it, Tamaki?"

"B – but I k – know your secret n – now! I'll t – tell everyone a – a – about it!"

Tora shrugged and tilted his head casually. "Uhhh, I don't know. Maybe you can't, _no_, you_ definitely _can't since, uhm . . . you're going to get killed?"

"No way . . . you're just 21! You're too young to be – to be like this!"

Tora just ignored what Tamaki said, and approached the black car waiting for him at the opposite side of the street. Before entering, he clicked his fingers and Tamaki breathed no more. 

"That must be the last spot," said Shintani Hinata, wiping the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand. He kept the bucket and mop inside the janitor's closet and went to look for his best friend since childhood and eventually crush, Misaki Ayuzawa.

He opened the double doors to the kitchen and saw Misaki placing the last plate inside the cabinet. She turned around and beamed a tired yet satisfied smile.

"I guess we should be going home now," she said, drying her hands with cloth and picking up her bag.

"Yeah, it's getting very late."

Both walked home after locking up the back door of the restaurant they were working part-time in. The two stayed quiet as they walked the street lamp-lit streets. When they reached the park, Misaki bade goodnight to Shintani and walked the rest of her way home alone.

This was just like any other day, with the usual routine, and the usual faces. Misaki remembered the day when Shintani and her decided to have a part-time job to pay their tuition fees and other necessities, as both of their families were incapable to pay all of their expenses. She smiled at the thought of that day, but her smile twitched when she somewhat stepped on something hard.

Misaki looked down and stared agape at the sight below her. It was a blonde guy, about her age, lying flat on the middle of the road unconsciously.

She crouched down, examined the guy a little bit, poked his rather hollow cheek and swore mentally. She slightly shook the guy's shoulders, expecting that he'll wake up or something.

"Oh no . . . what should I do . . . Wait, are you dead?" Misaki muttered. Just then, the guy's eyes opened, revealing striking green eyes.

She immediately flushed; feeling embarrassed at the thought that she just shook the guy and asked him if he was dead. Avoiding his piercing stare, Misaki diverted her sight at the tree nearby. She felt him move and sit, then felt something burn on the back of her neck.

'_Honestly! Does he have eye-superpowers or something?' _she thought, flushing even more.

_Thud._

Misaki flinched and turned her head around slowly, then she noticed that the guy just collapsed again, but he was still conscious.

"W – wait! Don't die yet! I'm calling an ambulance!" she hastily yelled. Taking out her phone from her bag, she kept on muttering how stupid she was for not realizing to call help at once.

Suddenly, she felt a hand land over her arm.

"Don't, please don't call an ambulance – please . . ." the guy muttered with a ragged breath.

"What? But look at you! You're all – all – wait." She stared at the guy for a while. "Are you wounded or something?"

"No . . . I'm just very tired . . . that's all."

Misaki sighed in relief. "So shall I help you go home?"

"NO!" came the sudden outburst from the blonde guy.

"W – well, uhm, I guess you don't have a proper place to sleep in, so . . ."

"No," repeated the guy. "I ran away from home. I came all the way from who knows where."

"But why did you –"

"Arranged marriage; I didn't want to marry her . . ."

Misaki nodded in understanding. He was actually _that _desperate not to marry that girl. She looked up at him, and when she saw his face completely, it stroke her.

'_Damn, he's cute.'  
_

crystalline'maia: I PERFECTLY KNOW THAT I'M SUPPOSED TO BE UPDATING FAMILY MOMENTS but I couldn't take this idea off of my head, so yeah, thus began the existence of this fanfiction. The whole plot is already planned up, really, now all you need to do is to keep on encouraging me to finish this story. Thank you so much for reading this.

If you have any constructive criticism, feel free to tell them through your review. But if you'll _do _give me such, please keep in mind that this story is set in an AU (Alternate Universe) where the setting is _not exactly the same_ as the anime/manga, and that some of the characters are _purposely made _OOC for the sake of the story.

I do not own Kaichou wa Maid-sama and I'm not gaining/earning anything from writing this.

So here's the full summary and story properties:

Misaki's lovelife is torn between three men: an escaped criminal, a mafia boss, and a . . . restaurant janitor. Criminal!Usui, Mafia!Tora, Janitor!Shintani. AU.

_Maid Sama! | Rated: T | English | Crime/Romance | Misaki A. | In-Progress | Alternate Universe_


	2. Warming Up

**Of Truth and Lies**

_Chapter 1: Warming Up_

Misaki unlocked her apartment's door, stepped in and slapped random spots on the wall beside her, expecting to feel the familiar form of the light switch. When the room lit up, it turned out quite clean. The walls were painted pale yellow, and the ceiling and floor were made up of wood. Two doors on the left and right walls indicated either the bedroom or the bathroom; and a closed, curtained glass window was immediately opposite to the front door.

The only thing that seemed out of place in the neat room was the wooden coffee table in front of the sink. All over the table was a pile of messed up notebooks, stacked up textbooks that looked like it was going to collapse soon enough, empty styrofoam bowls complete with plastic spoons and forks, paper boxes of a well-known affordable burger stand, and a few miniature objects.

"Well," said Misaki with a nervous smile, thinking why she was willingly allowing an unknown, runaway guy inside her apartment. "This is it. Uhm . . . my humble abode."

The blonde guy looked around, obviously checking out if it was clean or not. As he did this, Misaki tucked some of the fringes covering her eyes behind her ear whilst listening to the deafening silence. She didn't know why, but she never felt _this _nervous in front of a guy before. She was always outrageous, glaring at almost any male that did something she didn't approve. But now, _'What exactly is wrong with this guy that I feel . . . different?'_

"Okay," he said simply.

"W – wha – oh, yeah, right – do come in. You must be really, _really _tired now, sorry!"

Misaki was hating every moment of it. Her cheeks burning, her heart thumping mad, and the effect of his eyes staring at her, all of these made her really uncomfortable.

"So, would you like something to eat first or would you like to rest now?" she asked, her eyes still avoiding the guy before her, but she could still feel his hard stare on her.

"I think I'll just go sleep."

"Okay, so I'll sleep on the sofa and –"

"No way, _I'll _sleep on the sofa."

"Heck the sofa's mine!"

"No, let me sleep on the sofa."

"_I'll _sleep on the sofa!"

"Me."

"No!"

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes."

"No!"

"No."

"Yes! Agh, damn it . . ."

"Pfft – HAHAHAHAHA! That was the oldest trick in the book and you fell for it! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Misaki murderously glared at the blonde who was cracking up idiotically. He looked so honest, so happy, and yet he had dark shadows under his green-irised eyes. His laugh was practically enhancing his already attractive features. And – '_What the heck am I thinking?' _she was blushing too much again.

"Okay! You sleep on the stupid sofa," she said, throwing another glare at him.

With the ends of his lips curving up, he leaned closer to her. Almost immediately, Misaki's heart raced faster than it already was. She shouldn't have trusted this guy; she realized she didn't even know his name yet! He was obviously some kind of rapist, and this must be the new clever strategy to snatch girls and get into their houses!

She balled her fist tightly, ready to punch the living daylights out of this guy if he ever dared to make contact with the tiny, little hairs on her epidermis.

"Thank you very much," he whispered, his cold breath tickling her ear.

Misaki blinked rather dumbly. "Whut . . ."

The guy leaned back and flopped on the sofa, creating few creaking noises.

"Oh, that's sofa's already old. I told you to sleep on the bed."

He smirked. "How about we _both _sleep on your bed?"

On instinct, Misaki grabbed the nearest object and threw it at him, which he easily dodged.

"Hey! I was just joking!" he said, laughing. "I'm going to sleep now. Goodnight, Miss Violent Woman, and thanks again."

"It's Misaki Ayuzawa! Not _Miss Violent Woman!_"

"Pleasure to meet you, Ayuzawa-san. I'm Takumi – Takumi Yamato."

"Yeah, nice to meet you too, Yamato-san."

"Takumi's all right."

"I prefer calling you by your last name."

"Okay . . . but can I call you Misa-chan?"

"WHAT? ABSOLUTELY NO WAY!"

"Yeah, yeah, goodnight, Ayuzawa."

xxx

Misaki found herself sitting on her bed cross-legged a few minutes later, filling in _April 12th _of her journal.

_Today was an unusual day because . . . guess what, I found a blondie lying flat and unconscious in the middle of the road. I poked him for a few times, and when he woke up he sort of explained to me that he was trapped in an arranged marriage. He must be rich, since these arranged marriage things don't come common with us poor families. He kind of ran away because he somehow hated the girl, and now he's all tired because, honestly, with him collapsing in the street, he must have WALKED miles and miles, he doesn't even know how far he traveled. Stupid blondie, not bothering to use his bank account when he's all rich and that._

_So now I'm stuck with him in my apartment, because I was being such a good girl and all. We almost had a fight, well, we DID have a fight, about who'll sleep on the sofa, and miraculously, blondie won. Weird, right? Then we fought again when he called me 'Miss Violent Woman', I mean, was I really THAT violent? I mean, I was just throwing who-knows-what-it-was at him! And then he introduced himself as Takumi Yamato, and even called me 'Misa-chan'!_

_Ahhhhh, I don't know how long he'll stay here, but I'll MAKE SURE he leaves at once. I'm not liking one bit of him at all. But . . . when I looked at his face, I realized that_

Misaki stopped writing, tapping her pen on the space after the last word she wrote. Blushing furiously, she closed her journal and locked it up in her bedside drawer. She let herself collapse on her bed, and then stared at the wooden ceiling. A few seconds later, she was in a deep sleep.

xxx

Takumi was smirking at the ceiling, who wasn't smirking at him back, obviously.

He was just thinking how good of a liar he was. He snorted at the thought of himself in an arranged marriage with a rich, spoilt girl, and him running away because of it. It was just so impossible.

But the good thing now was, he was free from jail, and now he was living with a feisty _girl_. So he better be a gentleman, and do what he always did in his crime-filled youth.

Seduce and kill. More like letting her go to heaven before hell. He chuckled at how sadistic he was; it was all too fun to think that he'll be doing it all over again.

Little did he know that fate wasn't siding with his desires.

xxx

_Reviews are much appreciated. Thanks to all those who added this story in their favorites/alerts list, and most especially to my frequent reviewers; you already know who you are! ;)_

_Click the button. CLICK THE BUTTON. __**CLICK THE DAMN BUTTON.**_


	3. Lucky Getaway

**Of Truth and Lies**

_Chapter 2: Lucky Getaway_

LAST SCENE REWRITTEN

Takumi woke up with a start. He looked around, quite shocked at the unfamiliar surroundings; then he remembered that it was already a whole day after his freedom from that awful jail.

He got off from the couch he slept on last night, and wandered around the small apartment. Still, it was a lot better than that smelly prison cell. Shamelessly opening the door on the right, he found a small room with a bed consuming much of the space; and in that bed was a sleeping Misaki, wonderfully unaware of the person who just came in.

xxx

"Turns out his account was just useless," Tora said, throwing a thick folder towards his secretary.

He turned his seat around, boringly gazing at the morning city view through the glass wall.

"What's my schedule for today?" he asked, not sparing his secretary a look.

"No targets for this whole day, Igarashi-sama, just school."

Tora frowned. He even wondered why his father let him attend college when he knew almost anything there is to know about the whole world, through the help of brilliant tutors and seventeen years of home-school. He sighed, and went on to prepare himself for just another day of school.

xxx

A few seconds after Misaki heard her door creak open, she jerked up from her bed and picked up the nearest object, flinging it towards the door. Takumi's eyes widened at the sight of the lampshade approaching him, and it so happens that he wasn't as lucky as yesterday. His forehead got hit quite hard and he dropped with a loud thud on the aged wooden floor.

"Ugh, shit," he muttered, rubbing the swell on his forehead.

"Wha – oh damn, I'm so sorry, Yamato-san!" Misaki quickly came to his side, fussing all over the pinkish swell. "Are you okay? Should I –"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"How were you able to get in my room anyway? It was locked."

Takumi looked confusingly at the girl beside him. "It wasn't locked, really. I just thought I'd –" he thought for a moment "– get proper permission to leave. You've already done too much for me . . ."

"It wasn't much; I just gave you a place for the night, that's all," Misaki said with an awkward smile, picking up her broken lampshade. "Now what should I do with this," she muttered, going back to her room.

He stood up and placed his hand over her shoulder. Takumi smirked; she shivered slightly upon his contact, so that must mean her feelings for him have started to build up.

"I'll repair it. It's my fault it got broken anyway."

"No! No, no, no way, absolutely _no way_. I threw this at you, now you have a pink bulge on your forehead and it's all _my _fault."

"Come on, Misa-chan," he said, squeezing her free hand and leaning his face closely to hers. Just a straight stare to her golden brown eyes and she was already blushing mad. "Let me fix it."

"All right!" Misaki said dismissively, slamming the lampshade on Takumi's hands. "If you'd like to go now, then it's okay."

"Thanks, but I just thought of this," he said, now in a casual tone, "I don't have a job yet to afford my own place tonight, so do you mind if I –"

"AGH!" Misaki yelled all of a sudden, stomping her foot and turning around hysterically; muttering a colorful stream of swear words under her breath.

Takumi blinked at her sudden actions, but he realized it all. She was the type of girl who wasn't submissive to love, and now she's getting confused about her feelings for him. He smirked inwardly; the plan was going on smoothly.

Maybe tonight would be a good choice to end it all for her.

"Are you okay, Ayuzawa?" he asked in his overused tone of false concern.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I'm just being stupid for a while," Misaki said, slapping her cheek. "I'm making breakfast."

xxx

Shintani was sitting on the bench under the shade of the pine tree in their college campus' park, waiting for Misaki to arrive. He anxiously checked his secondhand wristwatch, 7:48, she should have been already here by 7:15 because Misaki wasn't obviously the kind of person to go to school until the last minute.

For the umpteenth time, his eyes scanned the crowd of students slightly blocking up the campus entrance. There was still no sign of her.

"Ne, ne, Shintani-kun," Sakura, who was sitting beside him with Shizuko on her other side, said with a cheering smile. "Don't worry, maybe Misaki-chan just overslept."

"Misaki hasn't overslept in her whole life, Sakura," added Shizuko, her usual nonchalant expression plastered on her face again.

"But Shizuko-chan~ I'm trying to cheer up Shintani-kun here~"

Shintani just showed a small smile at Sakura. "It's okay, Sakura-chan, I'm sure Misaki just had a small problem with her morning."

"Hn~ Maybe you're ri – AH! Misaki-chan!"

He quickly turned his head around when Sakura started waving at another direction. Indeed it was Misaki, her hair slightly ruffled and a few more bandages on her hands, nevertheless, still with a smile gracing her face.

"What happened, Misaki? I was . . ." Shintani lowered his voice and looked away awkwardly, ". . . getting worried about you."

"Sorry for letting you worry, Shintani. I just had a few problems at my apartment, that's all."

"Oh, right, well, uh, how about we go to our first period's classroom now?"

"Of cou–"

A loud squeal coming from a group of girls quickly took Misaki's attention. Out of curiosity, she tried to find out what the girls were squealing about, then she saw the familiar hair color of platinum blonde – Tora Igarashi, school heartthrob.

Misaki's smile drowned into a scowl. There wasn't really anything to admire about him. He was simply an arrogant, spoilt brat and son of a rich business tycoon or something; sure, he had looks, but a little voice in Misaki's head keeps on telling her that there was always a glint of perverseness in those eyes.

Tora was waving gallantly at the girls who had sparkling eyes at him, complete with a pearly white smile. Misaki snorted. "They're acting like high school teenage girls! I mean, it's completely _childish _to be screaming at such a pervert like _that _guy!"

Sakura giggled. "Actually, Misaki-chan, Igarashi-kun has always been the gentleman, so it's kind of wrong to call him a pervert."

Misaki frowned wearily at her pink-haired friend since high school. "You're defending him, aren't you, Sakura?"

"Nawww, not really. I mean –" Sakura was shifting in her seat with a blush slowly appearing on her cheeks "– Kuuga-kun has always been my crush, and . . . _ne~ _Misaki-chan, why don't you just date Shintani-kun? He's been with you since you were kids."

Misaki flinched in shock. "Hey! Don't change the subject just like that! And besides . . . Shintani and I just consider each other as friends, right, Shintani?"

He replied with a small nod. "Yeah, just . . . friends. . ."

xxx

Pitch black darkness covered the skies of Tokyo; street lights formed circles of light on the pavements; and only the sound of crickets could be heard.

Misaki and Shintani were on their way home after their night shift in the supermarket. Turning around a corner, they saw a sight that widened their eyes and let the hairs on the back of their necks stand.

A young girl was being surrounded by a group of black-clad men, all holding weaponry. Another guy wearing a dark bowler hat, black shades fully covering his eyes, and he seemed to be wearing fancier clothing than the rest of the men. He was standing right before the shivering girl, talking to her.

Misaki's blood boiled at the sight. This was exactly why she disliked men: they take advantage of girls, leaving them scarred after their temporary happiness, an exception for Shintani though. She was ready to knock those men off if they ever did anything inappropriate to that girl.

But Shintani's hand stopped her from her actions. He pulled her back to hide from the armed men. "Listen, Misaki," he whispered as softly as possible. "Look at them, they have _guns_, and _we don't_. Do you think we stand a chance with your bare fists, Misaki? We should probably call the pol –"

Her spine shivered when another hand landed on her shoulder, a colder hand.

"Aw, come on, we live in an age where pizza arrives faster than the police, so it'd be no use to call them, anyway." It was a scary baritone voice, and Misaki could tell that he was near because cold, stinky breath tickled her ear.

"What is that?" She looked at the side of her eye – it came from one of the armed men.

"Kids, trying to call the police."

"WE'RE NOT KIDS!" Misaki suddenly yelled, shattering the silence of the night.

"Hold your tongue, you sh–"

Tightly gripping the man with the baritone voice, Misaki slammed his body onto the ground, gaining each gun's aim in the process. The man's body collided loudly with the cement, somehow creating large cracks on it since he was quite the muscle-man.

Misaki then turned to Shintani who was dumbstruck at her feat. He quickly took hold of his hand when something stopped her from doing so. Now, the guy in the bowler hat had his arm around her neck, limiting her breath. He was extraordinarily fast, and she admitted that. Then she felt something hard and solid being dug between her shoulder blades. _'A gun . . .'_

"NO! Don't hurt her!" Shintani shouted, throwing his fist at the guy, but before he could even make contact with his face, the guy already had his gun pointed at the middle of Shintani's forehead.

Blood came seeping down from the slit on Misaki's front neck. The slit came from the guy's dangerously sharp dagger, which probably was slid from his sleeve onto his hand.

"Let us handle this, boss," said one of the black-clad men.

The guy shook his head, and then tilted it to the direction of the stuttering girl. Surprisingly, his men seemed to understand it. They shooed the girl away, whispering a few threats to her ear to stop her from reporting them to the police. The girl hurriedly bowed in thanks to Misaki and Shintani, then ran away as quickly as she could. Misaki wondered why he didn't just tell them verbally instead of shaking and tilting his head.

Misaki was twitching at the tingling sharp pain in her neck. When she found the chance to strike, she hit the guy's cheek with her elbow and swiftly slapped away the dagger from his hand. The gun slipped and she immediately stepped her foot on it, stopping its rotation on the ground.

The guy smirked, wiping away the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

Misaki looked at the guy with pure hatred and disgust. What was wrong with him? Was he mute? But certainly having a mute boss was ridiculous, so Misaki thought he was just avoiding to talk since she might recognize him somewhere.

With a snort, the guy turned around and walked onwards, gesturing his men to follow him. The man with the baritone voice walking in the rear was showing her a rude hand gesture. Once again, her blood boiled, but upon Shintani's warm grip on her wrist, she stopped, realizing that she just made enough damage to their future today.

"Let them go, Misaki," he said. "We can't do anything about it now. We're screwed, so we might just as well be careful to somehow extend our lives for a bit . . ."

Misaki felt bad for herself and Shintani. "Sorry, I burst out again, I was just too used to –"

"It's all right, at least you saved that girl." But his tone didn't come out right; he was probably more afraid of their fate from now onwards than her.

She turned around and enveloped Shintani into a very tight hug. Tears started to stream down her cheeks as she relayed her new woes to him.

_'If only we weren't just friends, I should have done something better than this . . .' _Shintani thought, patting Misaki lightly on her back.

xxx

_So as you have noticed, I gave Shintani more lines and Tora not a single line (for obvious reasons) XD Thanks for your opinion about the last scene, _crazyforcanines_. I think this chapter improved quite a bit, and I'm happy about the improvement too! :3 And let us sing again:_

_(to the tune of We Wish You a Merry Christmas – even though it's nowhere near Yuletide season XD…)_

_Reviews please, my dearest readers_

_Reviews please, my dearest readers_

_Reviews please, my dearest readers_

_And I'll update sooner~_


	4. A Forthcoming Love Triangle

**Of Truth and Lies**

_Chapter 3: A Forthcoming Love Triangle_

Misaki went back to her apartment room, trudging up the creepily yellow-fluorescent-bulb-lit staircases. Not for the first time, she came across the thought that this particular apartment would score quite good when it came to a horror movie setting audition. The windowless walls were colored dirty white and were peeling off at random places. Her footsteps echoing around always made her think that another person was going upstairs too.

She was lightly jealous at the fact that Shintani had an aunt who had a house nearby. More than once, he offered her to live with him there, since almost everyone in the Hinata family was familiar with her ever since Shintani introduced her when they were kids. Being ashamed at the thought about living with Shintani, she politely refused his offers, no matter how much he urged her.

Her thoughts then switched onto the scene that happened to them just a while ago. Remembering it made her spine shiver, insulting that mafia boss was the best and worst dare she ever did in her whole life. True, she spent her high school days as the ever-legendary demon president of a public school which was once an all-boys school, abusing her disciplinary power and punishing every guy that opposed her ways.

But a mafia boss? A mafia wasn't an ordinary gang of high school students, she knew that; it was a more organized group of well-trained criminals, who obviously didn't rely on just bare fists and martial arts, but probably have guns and blades in their pockets wherever they went. Misaki was scared, who knows what will happen to her loved ones when they grab information about her.

She shook the thought away when she twisted the doorknob to her room. Sleeping soundly on the sofa was Takumi. Misaki just realized it was already very late; glancing at her five-year-old wall clock, it was just ten more minutes before midnight.

Misaki sighed and entered her bathroom. She turned the tap on and splashed as much water to her face as she could to cool up her skin. She then stared at her reflection in the slightly misty mirror, taking in her appearance. She still looked young even at the age of 21. She expected early wrinkles and eye-bags as a result of studying-till-dawn very often, but there were only faint signs across her face.

She hastily dried her face with a towel and bounded for her room where her books awaited. Her feet paused halfway across the sofa and reluctantly looked at Takumi's face. After an argument that she lost with her inward self, she sulkily crouched down before his head.

Misaki felt her heart skip a beat. It was this awkward feeling swelling inside her again as she gazed into his sleeping face. An unknown force made her fingers brush away the blonde strands covering his forehead, lightly making contact with his skin.

In a split second, Takumi instinctively pinned Misaki on the floor by pushing down her shoulders. Her back landed on the wood with a creak as she winced in pain. Then she registered the position they were currently in. Takumi was on his knees and his upper body was bent over her, his hands gripped on her shoulders supporting his weight. Misaki was right under him, shockingly staring agape at his face just inches from hers, a soft shade of pink on her pale cheeks.

Misaki held her breath while cold, quite stinky air breezed her nose. Piercing emerald eyes under long lashes stared at her warm bullion ones. Takumi blinked, apparently realizing their position. He took off his hold on her shoulders and flopped on the couch awkwardly.

Facepalming himself, he muttered, "I guess it's now my turn to say sorry."

"Why the hell did you do that for?" Misaki shouted, pointing at Takumi with an accusing finger.

He let out a absurdly small smile. This was just like her and it was amusing for him. "Nothing, I just thought you were going to strangle me right then. Pun intended," he added with a wink.

"What –" She tried her best not to fluster, or even just hide her embarrassment. "I definitely wasn't planning to strangle you! I was just – just –"

"Just what, Misa-chan?" There he was again with his mocking tone. She shot him a deathly glare and averted her gaze elsewhere.

Misaki slowly stood up, dusting off the back of her jeans and shirt while muttering things such as 'annoying', 'alien' and the like. "I'm going to study now."

"But it's already midnight; surely your eyes will get blurry." The guy had a point though, and she was already very tired.

"I have glasses, you idiot," Misaki snapped, glaring at Takumi once again and slamming her room's door closed.

"Good night, Ayuzawa!" he called in a playful tone, knowing that she could still hear him.

"GOOD NIGHT!" she yelled in frustration.

He smiled wearily.

xxx

Takumi shifted his position on the sofa uncomfortably. His gaze dug deeply into the darkness of the room, with only the city lights seeping through the window's curtains lighting up a portion of the floor. Faint sounds of cars and club music and the rhythmic tick-tocking of the clock were the only sounds to be heard.

The girl was truly rare, he had to admit. Maybe, just maybe, he should postpone his plan on murdering the girl. And then he noticed, why was he going soft on her? He wasn't like this before, never like this. Probably his hormones were raging at his age of 21, because he never had this tingling inside him in his teenage years. Takumi smiled at the ceiling he couldn't even distinguish.

'_Welcome, oh hormones, to my miserable fugitive life,' _he thought with a snort.

He was going crazy, smiling at the ceiling and welcoming hormones and that. Maybe it was the burnt eggs Misaki had tried to cook earlier in the morning, resulting in the delay of her usual leaving-time. He should definitely take the role of the chef tomorrow.

xxx

Misaki woke up with the smell of toast wafting through the air. She immediately panicked, something was cooking, and it was probably already burning! She took in more of the smell, and concluded it definitely didn't smell like burnt toast. Heaving a relieved sigh, she got off of her bed.

She found Takumi in front of the stove, which she didn't really bother to use, resulting in its cleanliness.

"You cook? Why didn't you tell me yesterday?" Misaki said with a slight disappointment, taking a look at his cooking figure.

"Ah, good morning, Misa-chan! You were too much in a hurry yesterday, so I ended up not having the chance to tell you that I can."

"Don't call me _Misa-chan_, we're not close. You can call me _Ayuzawa_ like you always do."

"But I prefer _Misa-chan! _And _Ayuzawa_ sounds too dry and distant. How about you call me by my first name too?"

"Fat chance." Misaki snorted, crossing her arms. "And why are you cooking?"

"For our breakfast?" he asked innocently.

"But – but you don't need to!"

"Come on, Misa-chan, just consider it as my rent. I can even make you a bento everyday if you just give me the ingredients. You work in a supermarket, so it must be easy, right?"

Misaki looked confusingly at him. "How did you know I work in a supermarket?"

Takumi swore inwardly as it came to him that he just slipped the results of his research when she wasn't home. "You have that supermarket saleslady cap hanging over there, so I thought you must be working there," he explained in a completely convincing tone, just one of his fortes and an essential part of seduction.

"Ah, oh, right. Thanks . . ."

Without Misaki noticing, Takumi's face was just inches from hers. She immediately glowed tomato red at their faces' distance and tried to push him away, but he obviously didn't obey her demand.

"Ayuzawa," he said silkily, "do you feel insecure when I'm around?"

Blushing more furiously, Misaki tried to push him away with more force, avoiding contact with his stare. "I – I didn't say such thing."

"But you're doing it now," he pointed out.

"Look, will you just stop harassing me! I can kick you out of my apartment anytime, for your information!" she yelled.

"Cool down, I was just asking."

"Well, do you need to get _this _close to me if you're just going to ask something?"

Takumi sighed at Misaki's stubbornness. He turned around and placed the toast on a plate. Then, as if nothing just happened, he smiled brightly at her. "Eat up, Misa-chan!"

xxx

Shintani, Sakura, Shizuko and she were eating their lunch in the campus cafeteria, chatting and laughing animatedly as they ate. Shintani was biting off large chunks from his drumsticks, Sakura was talking to Shizuko, who was just pretending to listen, about UxMishi's upcoming concert, and Misaki was the only one who looked approachable among the four. And approached did someone.

"Ayuzawa-san, right?"

Misaki jerked up from her seat when she heard that virile voice from behind. Turning her head around hesitantly, she saw the blindingly handsome face of Tora Igarashi, smiling at her like a complete gentleman, which of course, annoyed her to the point of nearly punching him in the face.

"Yes," Misaki said proudly, "and what exactly do you want, Igarashi-san?"

"Ever since I locked eyes with you in our freshman year, I have been quite interested in you, and only now have I gathered the courage to actually speak to you. So I'd like to ask you, Ayuzawa-san, would you care for a stroll at the campus park? I'd like to know more about you."

Misaki didn't have a doubt that all of those lines were scripted and absolutely rehearsed. Sakura was giggling crazily at the opposite side of the table, Shizuko was, as always, ignoring everything, and Shintani – '_Is he blushing?' _Misaki thought – had a pale shade of pink staining his cheeks as he stared at Tora and her.

"I – I'm flattered!" She let out a fake laugh. "B – but I think –"

"Go, Misaki-chan! Go, Misaki-chan!" Sakura was cheering for her in a whisper.

'_Ah, here goes nothing,' _she thought. "I'm really sorry, Igarashi-san, but as you can see, I'm currently sitting with my friends and my lunch is waiting to be finished, so I have to refuse your offer."

"I understand, Ayuzawa-san," he said gently. "Perhaps after classes then?"

Misaki swore under her breath; the guy knew how to persuade. "I have a par–"

"It's okay, Misaki, I'll just tell the manager that you'll be coming late for your shift today," Shintani said. The guy didn't know how to hide his disappointment.

"Ah, thanks, Shintani, but –"

"It's okay, really, you go on with Igarashi-san."

Misaki looked pityingly at her childhood friend. "Okay, then. I'll go with you, Igarashi-san."

"Excellent! I'll expect you at your department's entrance hall later." With that, Tora turned around and left.

Of course, with a smirk at the success of his almost-fail attempt.

xxx

_Oh yeah, the last scene in Chapter 3 was rewritten._

_Review because I love you! :3_


	5. A Successful Manipulation

**Of Truth and Lies**

**Chapter 4: A Successful Manipulation**

Shintani walked beside Misaki along the main corridors, not speaking a single word ever since they left their last class. The hurting feeling inside him made him scratch his head every now and then.

He knew that he was being an idiot. He had seventeen years to tell Misaki that he loved her. They were always together, like brother and sister, but this sibling affection he had for her surprisingly turned into something deeper. He wondered if the same thing happened to her. No, he didn't wonder, he _hoped_.

"Ayuzawa-san."

He looked up the moment that voice reached his ears. There, holding out his hand to Misaki, was Tora, the person he wished he was. Looks, brains, and status – it was everything he wanted. He was nothing compared to Tora, and every time he looked at him, a drop of his hope evaporated away. Misaki must already be falling for him, because of all the years he spent with her, he knew that beneath that strong, intimidating shell was a fragile Misaki.

He started to hear whispers, gasps, and giggles from the girls nearby. He looked at them and then quickly away.

"Igarashi-san," Misaki acknowledged.

"I believe your afternoon has been fine?"

"Yeah, it was, thanks."

"And how about you, Hinata-san?"

He jerked up upon hearing his name. "M-me? Wha – oh, y-yeah, I'm very much thanks, fine! Uh – I mean – I'm very much fine, thanks!"

Tora showed a slight smile of amusement at him. "I see." He brought his gaze back to Misaki. "You have an amusing friend here, Ayuzawa-san."

Misaki hesitantly looked at Shintani before cracking a fake laugh. "Y-yeah, he _is _really funny."

Tora held out his hand to her. She supposed it was a hand shake, but instead, he bowed and brushed her knuckles with his lips softly. She immediately blushed a deep shade of crimson as she looked away.

"So, shall we, Ayuzawa-san?"

"Right, so –" She cast a glance at Shintani. "– please do tell our manager that I'm going to be late, okay?"

Shintani nodded. "Yeah, I will. Have a good time then, Misaki-chan."

"Thanks, um, bye then, Shintani-kun."

"Yeah, bye."

Misaki stared at his retreating figure pityingly, sunset rays striking his back as he headed towards the campus gates.

xxx

Takumi momentarily glanced at the wall clock, 5:47, and proceeded to start reading Misaki's journal that he successfully unlocked just now. He had been spending his time finding all about the girl, her background, her favorite things, her pictures, and anything related to her. Ever since they got into that awkward position last night, he couldn't stop being so obsessive about finding out everything there is to her.

But then . . . he had to kill her soon enough. She already doubted him, and anytime soon she might know what he really is – an escaped criminal.

_2003, May 26th_

The date on the page read.

_Today I just turned 14. Mom made a small birthday party for me in our house, even though I already told her a million times not to waste money on such a thing as my birthday. Mom, Suzuna, Shintani, Sakura, and Shizuko were the only ones who celebrated my birthday with me. Suzuna gave me a shirt she won from a lottery, Sakura and Shizuko bought me a birthday cake, and Shintani gave this journal I'm writing on now._

Takumi raised his brows in understanding. So her birthday was on the 26th of May, and that this _Shintani_-guy gave her this journal.

_It's not a diary! It's a journal! It's a journal because I said so, and diaries are for girly girls who act like crazy because of their stupid crushes. They're stupid things. They say that they had fallen in love, but I don't think so. They're still kids, and I don't think you can't truly fall in love so quickly._

_So this ends my first entry, I guess. Until next week!_

The ends of his lips curved upwards at what he just read. Fourteen year old Misaki and her opinion on birthday parties, journals and diaries, and love. He had to agree though, since this was the first girl he had sparks on.

xxx

"So, let us stop with the formalities, shall we? Calling you _Ayuzawa-san _is a little tiring for the tongue," said Tora, smiling so gentlemanly at Misaki who was strolling beside him.

The campus park was wide and spacious, pine trees beautifully aligned along the brick pathways, wooden benches waiting to be sat on here and there, streetlights standing tall at every corner, and the landscape was simple and pleasant. The park was drowned with the soft orange sunset rays, and the sky was starting to get dark, making the air a little cold and humid.

"I think _Misaki-san _is all right for me . . ." she muttered. Personally, she considered that this little stroll in the park of theirs was a complete waste of time. She should be attending to customers now.

"All right then, Misaki-san, call me Tora-san as much as you please."

"Yeah, okay . . ."

"So, I must say, it's really cowardly of me to have only approached you after four years of admiring from afar. Have you ever noticed my stares, Misaki-san?"

"No, not really . . ."

"I must be fortunate back then! I really didn't have the confidence to tell you why I always stared at you if you had ever decided to question me!"

"Yeah, really lucky . . ."

"So, may I ask you about your family background then? You know, your parents, how many siblings you have."

"I only have a single sibling, Suzuna. She's really weird, and most of the things in our house are probably the prizes she got from winning all of those lotteries. We only live with our mom because . . . of reasons I'd like to keep to myself."

"I apologize for my curiosity, Misaki-san, but I am really interested on why you live without a father."

"I don't think you need to know about it . . ."

"Please, Misaki-san?"

"Oh, okay, okay! We only live with mom because our dad just disappeared and left us with a huge debt."

"I see . . . but what amused me earlier, honestly, lotteries?"

"You say it like it's a bad thing . . . and in case you're wondering, I'm a scholar in this awfully fancy college, therefore I'm obviously a poor girl from a common family who just got here because she spent every single night of her life working hard to get eyebags."

Tora stared at her with slightly wide eyes. He chuckled, then laughed. "That was a very comical way of describing your endless nights of studying, Misaki-san! I applaud you!"

"Uhm, yeah, right, thanks."

"So you're honestly from a poor family?"

"Yeah . . ."

"That fact hurts me, Misaki-san."

"Why?"

"I hate it because you might despise me for being the exact opposite of your status."

Misaki diverted her sight away from Tora. What he said was true, she hated the fact that he was filthily rich and powerful.

"Do you really, Misaki-san?" he said it softly.

"O-of course, not . . ."

"Please don't lie to me, Misaki-san. A young lady like you shouldn't lie." His tone was so gentle, yet so manipulating.

"I-I'm not lying!"

"Misaki-san." Tora stood before her, leaned down and brushed away her forelocks. Her bullion eyes looked with fear at his golden ones, yet it still radiated strength and resistance. "Please don't hate me."

Misaki tried her best not to blush, but she found herself unable to resist her blood flow to her cheeks. "I don't hate you."

"What do you feel about me then?" His face was so close, _too close._

"I . . ." For the first time in her life, she was out of words to say to a guy.

"Misaki, what if I tell you that I love you? Will you love me too?"

"I . . ."

"If I tell you to be my girlfriend, will you accept me?"

"I w–"

"If I kiss you, will you kiss me back?"

"Ugh, shit, will you quit it?"

Tora stood dumbstruck before her. He was taken aback, completely amazed that she didn't fall for his words and even managed to talk back and swear at him. His face lit up with interest.

"Look, Igarashi-san, I don't care if you like me or not, I'm not looking for a relationship, especially with you of all people!"

He smirked, a darker ambience now surrounding him as the air around turned colder. "You really hate me, Ayuzawa-san."

"Yes!"

"But I love you, ever since I laid my eyes on you. And even if I say it to you a million times, you still won't believe, right?"

"Y-yes."

"As I thought, I need to talk this way, huh? How disappointing for you to take it as a joke when I said it with all my heart. But, well . . . I have to make you believe me."

Misaki watched every move he made closely.

"Do allow me to say it again, with my utmost sincerity to you. If possible, I would like you to be by my side, that's why . . . can you go out with me, Ayuzawa Misaki-san?"

Before Misaki could even talk back, Tora already embraced her tightly, his arms across her back, pulling her close and making her warm.

"Go out with me, Misaki-san. I won't break your heart."

"You have my trust, Tora-san."

xxx

_OOC, yes, but do remember what I told you at the prologue's ending author's note. I'll be inactive for a week or so, because I'm going to get serious with my studies. Just stalk my Twitter account._

_As you have noticed, the characters still have their canon pasts, so expect loads more of twists in the succeeding chapters, as the next one is going to be a bummer ;)_

_Also, I'd like to thank all of those wonderful people who reviewed the past chapters! Thank you so much for the support! And yes, to those silent readers out there who added my story to their favorites/alerts list, a huge thanks to you too! Virtual cookies to everyone! The milk is right over there._

_And I'm still going to pester you to click the damn button._

_So click it._


	6. That Night

**Of Truth and Lies**

**Chapter 6: That Night**

The news spread like wildfire the next day. Misaki could barely walk through the halls without getting bombarded with questions from the girls whom she identified has crushes on Tora. It was completely inevitable that Shintani had to know about it soon enough. The day went by with him acting really awkward and distant with her.

Misaki stared at her reflection in the women's bathroom mirror for quite a few dazed seconds, her hands placed on top of the tiled counter sinks. Thoughts rumbled inside her mind – one day she was all mad at Tora, then just yesterday she willingly agreed to go out with him. All she wanted to do know was to hit her head on the sink and wish that it never happened. How could she easily fall for his sweet talk?

She snapped out of her thoughts the moment she heard a toilet flush, followed by a cubicle door being swung open. Out came a relieved-looking Sakura, her face lighting up at the mere sight of Misaki.

"Ah! Misaki-chan! I've been waiting to talk to you since this morning." She approached Misaki stealthily and whispered excitingly to her ear. "So, is it true, is it true?"

Misaki immediately knew what she was talking about. With a rather weary smile, she drawled, "Yeah, sort of . . . and I didn't even know why I did!"

"Oooh! So Misaki-chan and Igarashi-kun got hit by Cupid's arrows! So cute!"

"You still believe in things like that, don't you, Sakura-chan?" Misaki asked, twisting the doorknob open.

"But there's nothing wrong with it, ne?" Sakura followed her outside of the bathroom.

"Not, really, it's just childish for me, I guess . . ."

"It's my way of preserving my youth, Misaki-chan!"

"But youth doesn't remain even if you do such thing anyway. So where's Shizuko?"

"She's in the library, doing some research work."

"Typical," Misaki commented.

As soon as they got out of their department building, Misaki locked an intense gaze with Tora who was waiting for her at the campus gates with crossed arms and a casual smile at her.

Sakura tugged ecstatically at Misaki's sleeve, her facial expression bearing intense excitement. Misaki approached Tora calmly.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I believe it's accepted as a tradition for boyfriends to wait for their girlfriends at the end of classes," he said gallantly. "And a good afternoon for Hanazono-san."

"Good afternoon to you too, Igarashi-kun!" Sakura chirped.

"I'll take Misaki from here, if you won't mind, Hanazono-san."

Inside, Misaki wanted to scream at Tora that she wasn't some sort of object that could be just given and taken away. Sakura just couldn't notice the vein about to pop on her friend's forehead, because she just kept on giggling.

"Sure, sure! See you tomorrow, Misaki-chan!" Sakura jogged away cheerfully, leaving Misaki and Tora alone with an awkward silence.

Misaki averted her sight boringly at the ever-so-smiling Tora, a frown on her face.

"May I have permission to walk you to your workplace, Misaki?"

She swore she heard the group of girls giggle while they looked at them.

"Do you really have to do that?" she snapped.

"Do you mean I don't need to ask you permission to walk you there?"

"N – no! Not like that, I mean . . . you don't have to walk me to the restaurant."

"But certainly you would like to be accompanied, wouldn't you, Misaki? Or are you more comfortable with Hinata-san by your side?"

Here he was again with the gentlemanly manipulative talk. Misaki sighed at his stubbornness, then looked back to her department's entrance hallway again. Usually, Shintani would wait for her there, leaning on the brick post, but after seeing his behavior today . . .

"Let's go," Misaki said dismissively, leading the trail towards the restaurant.

xxx

"I don't really know, Shizuko-chan, but she really seemed to be just forced into it, you know," Sakura said thoughtfully.

They were heading towards the restaurant where Misaki and Shintani worked at, to have a little snack there like they always did after classes on Fridays. Sakura was telling Shizuko about the scene she just witnessed earlier, and she couldn't ignore this little feeling of worry for Misaki and her fresh relationship with Tora, who now seemed to be a lot more different guy than she viewed him before.

"It's Misaki we're talking about, right? So no need to fuss about it; she'll take care of Tora once she catches him cheating on her," Shizuko said, pushing the glass doors of the restaurant.

The chimes above them rang softly as they entered. The place was full enough as usual, and they went on to find an empty table, spotting one near the counter and the glass wall. The restaurant was a quaint and cozy, with the theme of modern formality creating a fine ambience for students, couples, and various others who would like to take a break from the busy world.

Shizuko watched as Sakura rummaged inside her pink leather shoulder bag, her face lighting up at once as she fished out a compact powder. The pink haired girl still looked very much like a high school girl with her twin pigtails, but somehow, she matured quite a bit when they entered the same college as Misaki.

Speaking of Misaki, Shizuko looked over Sakura's shoulder and spotted her talking to a guy with very familiar platinum blonde hair. It was Tora, and Misaki obviously looked both annoyed and awkward as he took his order.

"I'll go get our orders. The usual, Sakura?" Shizuko asked, standing up and adjusting her glasses.

Sakura nodded brightly.

xxx

Misaki scratched her head in annoyance as she stared with narrow eyes at Tora. He was purposely sitting near the counter while drinking tea in a very formal manner; and the simple thing just irritated her so much.

"Misaki." She turned her head around and saw Shizuko.

"Ah, Shizuko, what would you like?" she said, smiling.

"Strawberry sundae and chocolate parfait please," the bespectacled girl said plainly, handing some cash.

"Sure, here's your change."

Shizuko promptly put the change into her purse, and leaned nearer to Misaki. A quick swish of light crossed her glasses as she stared skeptically at the confused cashier.

"I – is there anything you still need, Shizuko?" Misaki stuttered awkwardly with a nervous smile at her friend's gaze.

"Tell me honestly, Misaki. Are you not feeling well?"

"Of course I'm fine! Um, why d'you ask?"

"It's very unlikely for you to agree dating Igarashi-san."

'_Damn, she's so frank,' _Misaki thought. "Well, you see – it was kind of . . . weird."

Shizuko frighteningly leaned closer, her nose almost touching Misaki's. "Are you telling me that you feel for his talk?"

Misaki's smile twitched in annoyance. Her friend was certainly very perceptive. "No . . . not really."

"You did, didn't you?"

Misaki sighed. There was no other choice, and she was her long-time best friend anyway. "All right, I did. But I couldn't believe it either! He was – was –"

"A manipulative, sweet-talking, honey-coated guy," Shizuko said.

"Yeah! He was!"

"You can't say it any fairer than that."

xxx

Misaki wiped her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand. Finally, after a whole hour of washing the dishes she was able to go home now. She dried her hands with a neat towel and slid her bag over her shoulder. She was fully expecting Shintani to be waiting for her outside the kitchen. He was always there after she finished cleaning up, standing with a huge grin.

But now, he was nowhere to be seen near the kitchen.

The hallway was quiet, just like the silent atmosphere outside. Crickets were the only sounds to be heard as it was already around nine in the evening. It seemed that she was the only one around the restaurant right now, since their manager usually leaves at eight.

Funny, thought Misaki. Her co-workers would usually go home the same time as her, but after hearing not a single noise around the restaurant, she immediately confirmed that she was alone.

A creepy, tingling sensation in her spine made her shiver. Misaki strode the length of the hall quickly. Her fear of ghosts was dominating her again, and there was a small feeling at the back of her head that there was something supernatural following her. She tried her best not to creep out, while she kept on telling herself to be brave until she reached the front doors.

That was, until . . .

"Hi there, Misa-chan."

Misaki turned around. No way would Shintani call her like that, but the voice sounded nowhere near his.

xxx

_Short, but I didn't want you to sleep tonight! MUAHAHAHAHA! But yeah, sorry for the long wait, peeps, because honestly, SCHOOL IS KILLING ME SOFTLY._

_By the way, Chapter 52 made me SQUEAL!_

T_T _Review? I know you wanna! ;)_


	7. The First Flip

**Of Turtles and Leeks**

_Nah, just kidding XD_

**Of Truth and Lies**

"DIE, USUI! DIE!" Misaki yelled, stabbing the guy she loved for three hundred years into non-existence.

_Pffft, hehe, just kidding again XD Okay, I'll get serious now._

**Of Truth and Lies**

**Chapter 6: The First Flip**

"Who's there?" Misaki burst, turning around swiftly as adrenaline sped through her veins.

"You don't need to worry, Misa-chan," the voice responded, "it's just me . . ."

The silhouette covered in darkness soon stepped into the lit side of the room – it was the guy in the bowler hat just a few nights ago.

Amber eyes widened at the sight. He spoke, at last. Yet somehow, the voice was achingly familiar.

"Hey."

Tora.

Unconsciously, Misaki dropped down on her knees. She realized, she just got herself tricked _that _easily. Her fists balled harshly, fingernails almost digging through her palm.

"You," she muttered darkly.

"Funny, I thought you can't be fooled as easily as every other girl in the world."

Misaki felt her heart skip a beat when she felt his cold breath on her neck. Then a musky fume entered her nostrils. _'His scent – why didn't I realize? Of all the times he was around –'_

"We're all alone now, aren't we, Misa-chan? You _do _know all the possibilities I can do to you, right?"

"So you're saying you don't have your friends around tonight?"

"Hmm, I don't really consider them as my friends. They're more like . . . slaves . . . of money and power."

"Your clanmates. Stupid, harassing, perverted monsters who like to go all cool and that."

Tora chuckled, but the pressure pushing Misaki down didn't decrease.

"Your sarcasm always amuses me, Misa-chan."

"Ohhh, and you call _me _sarcastic. Now let me get this straight, why are you doing this?"

He didn't respond right away, instead, he just kept on running his fingers through her hair.

"Misa-chan, Misa-chan . . ." he whispered playfully to her ear, his lips barely an inch from her neck. "Rich people will somehow get tired from all the money they bathe in. And it so happens that I'm one of those rich people, so sometimes . . . I divert to another field of entertainment."

At his cold lips' contact to the nape of her neck, Misaki shivered and slapped Tora away. Her palm's harsh contact with his cheeks made his bowler hat flip onto the tiled floor.

Revealing a smirk, he pushed Misaki's shoulders. The feeling was completely unusual, almost the same way how Takumi did it to her. His hands, as she described, somehow blew an unearthly wind to her shoulders, leaving her brain in a trance for a millisecond, which seemed like a whole minute.

Her hindquarters dropped painfully to the floor, making her wince. Soon, the same pair of hands forced her shoulders in level with the floor, and Misaki found herself in exactly the same position that she had with Takumi a few nights ago.

"W – what – what the hell are you doing?" she yelled at Tora's face which was just a mere inches from hers. She did her best to demonstrate her aikido skills, her legs frantically struggling to get Tora's knees off it.

A lecherous smirk flitted on his face as the tip of his nose brushed against hers. Misaki couldn't help but delve into those golden irises; it reflected her half-frightened, half-struggling expression.

Ignoring her question, Tora delightfully licked her right cheek, leaving a trail of soft pecks across her neck. Never before had Misaki been _this _afraid, but the guy seemed to be awfully skilled in judo, pinning techniques as his specialty, she observed, and so making a moan escape her slightly agape lips. It was inwardly irritating to the point of wanting to scream like a small girl; but Misaki didn't want to abandon her pride. She was going to do outdo him, just like she did to all the guys that tried to rape her in her high school days.

Misaki turned on a serious face, gathering up all the saliva she had in her mouth, planning to spit at Tora's certainly insured perfectly-featured face. But for a reason unbeknownst to her, her sight blacked out before she even preceded her plan. Then she became unconscious.

Little did they know that a pair of eyes just witnessed the whole scene, _and _caught it all on video.

xxx

Takumi was in a complete confusion as to why in the world Misaki still wasn't at home. It was already an hour after the time she should have been back at her apartment.

And so he had been spending the whole time in this moderate room watching the small screen on his recently stolen TV phone. The whole apartment building was the only territory he could roam around with. Going out was perfectly insane since it was too much of a risk – he was still a prison escapee after all. He confirmed that the times eight to eleven in the morning and one to four in the afternoon were the perfect times to go out from Misaki's apartment and have a little adventure in the building, and have a break from reading Misaki's journal which he just noticed was as thick as a history book.

A room at the second floor was quite the catch since a techy person seemed to reside there, possibly a technology student as he seemed to be out during most of the day. Turns out that his door-opening skills were quite handy. Then there was this person, residing in a room in the third floor, who shared the same shirt and pants sizes as him, so it was a good catch as well. And possibly the best one of all was a room in the fourth floor, which hid a stack of beer under his bed, and actually had a big, fat envelope inserted in between the bottles, filled with bills of ten thousand yen.

Happily, he returned back to Misaki's room that afternoon at an hour past three, a hand holding the necks of two bottles of beer, and a pocket, fat with money. How wonderful it was to be free.

"_We have a breaking news report here, and a shocking scandal one it is to boot!" _exclaimed the reporter in the TV, successfully getting Takumi's attention. _"Just now, a young woman went running to our studio's office, exclaiming that she had a disgusting video _including _the son of the Igarashi group's CEO. Here's her video, caught on her mobile phone."_

Takumi smirked satisfyingly. _'Igarashi, huh?' _he thought, raising the volume of the phone.

xxx

A knock broke the quiet yet tense atmosphere of the Igarashi Group's CEO's office.

"Enter," said the deep voice of Mr. Igarashi.

Light flooded into the dark, spacious room as the door swung open to reveal a tall man clad in a bottle green suit, holding a clipboard.

"Sir, a so-called _scandal _involving your son has just been released into the media. Apparently, the video was submitted by a young woman just earlier and now the press is dying to have a conference with you, even the largest media companies are aching to interview you about your thoughts about this," the man said, gasping for breath afterwards.

"We shall answer them after I contact my son," replied Mr. Igarashi plainly, his eyes glinted even in the darkness.

"Y – yes, sir!"

xxx

"Oh shit!"

Takumi's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the screen, banging his fists on the table. No doubt that it was Misaki lying on the floor, and the platinum blond hair was a dead giveaway for Tora. The question that bugged him since the start of the video was that _how _Tora knew her in the first place. And the thing that bugged him even more was _why _Misaki wasn't able to do her standard-operating procedure during such times, she wasn't even screaming.

But then again, this was Tora Igarashi, mafia boss since his teenage years.

A rush of worry, concern, and anger was what Takumi felt at the video. Driven by his own conscience, which hasn't visited him for ages, he quickly put on his stolen black hoodie and a pair of dark shades, slid a dagger inside his jacket, locked the apartment's door, and began his search for Misaki.

xxx

Tora caressed the slumbering Misaki's cheek as he gazed at her soft features. So angelic, yet so demonic, just the perfect combination. Suddenly, the limousine they were currently riding stopped. The small window between the driver's seat and the main compartment slid open, and the driver's voice soon spoke.

"Igarashi-sama, your father wants to summon you to his office at the main building."

Tora's brow rose curiously. "Why?"

"The message sent to me didn't include the reason, but he wants you there right now, sir."

He sighed in defeat. "Such a kill joy . . . all right, but make sure to take her to the headquarters, _my _room, _my _bed. And don't strip her just yet. Assign Kanou to watch over her, and let him assign someone to take-over as temporary watchdog. And of course . . . declare to them all that she's the new queen."

"Commands delivered, sir."

xxx

In the midst of blurry neon lights and various city noises, Takumi luckily spotted that oh-so-familiar face. He strode over the person in stealth and placed his hand over that person's shoulder.

"Long time no see," uttered Takumi into his ear.

He felt him freeze in shock, a second later, he turned his heel around whilst stuttering. "Y – you."

Smiling playfully, Takumi said, "Me." Still maintaining the grin on his face, he slid his dagger over the person's neck. "Surely you've heard of this certain someone called Misaki Ayuzawa?"

"M – Misaki Ayuzawa, you say?"

"Well, you're not deaf, right? _Now_, where did that bitch take her to? His bed, I suppose?" Takumi said, his sadist ego taking over again as he neared his dagger's blade towards the person's neck.

Gulping, he rasped. "It's just been announced to us a minute ago, a message – that she's just been made queen of our mafia, right hand of the boss."

xxx

_I SINCERELY AND DEEPLY APOLOGIZE FOR THE VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY LATE UPDATE. I had exams, homework, band practice, projects, school paper-related things, an artwork to be planned for our Language Month Celebration, and it's our athletics week too ._. I don't even know why I still managed to finish this chapter . . . Agh, anyways._

_I personally think this chapter revealed quite a lot of secrets I've been hiding _=D _So yeah, this is _just _the first stir of the soup, er, the plot _XD _And I don't know what the mafia boss' female counterpart is supposed to be called, so I just made it up, ending up with 'queen' _XD

_You had your dose of Usui-ness in this chapter, some kind of *_eep, raep scene* _there, a little bit of Usui's history (wink, wink!), and guess who submitted the video – *censored*! Hehe, so . . ._

_Review! Won't you?_

_Please? PLEASE? __**PLEASE?**_


	8. Reunion

**Of Truth and Lies**

_Like, yeah, I know, it's uber-late. But yeah, you know why. Hope this makes it up for the long delay XD_

**Chapter 6: Reunion**

Narrowed green eyes carefully examined the city map on the table. Takumi finished his umpteenth can of beer and threw it to the nearby trashcan.

Just now, Takumi brought home (or rather, Misaki's apartment) his freshly caught source of information – a member of the enemy mafia. The shivering man was currently tied up into a corner of the living room, muffled sounds coming from his taped mouth.

Takumi shot a glare at the man, and he immediately froze in his spot. Standing up, he approached the closed curtained window. He slid it open and gazed at the blurry neon lights of the city's main district. _'So much difference, even though it's just near,' _he thought, upon noticing the dark and quiet streets of the district Misaki's apartment was.

Turning his heel around, Takumi walked towards the rigid man. He crouched in level with him, and a drop of sweat trailed down the man's moist forehead.

Takumi ripped off the tape on the man's mouth with a rather screeching sound. The man squinted in pain and looked at the young man with more fear in his eyes.

"Your name?" Takumi asked coldly, balling the tape in his fist.

"O – Oeda . . . Sachimaru," stammered the man.

Takumi smirked as the familiar surge of adrenaline rushed inside him. It was a nostalgic feeling, almost dream-like. Finally, after five whole years he can now get his revenge.

"Is your HQ still in that abandoned building?" he asked Oeda, flinging the balled tape to the trash can without looking away.

"N – no, we moved into a – another location just this J – January."

"Where?"

Unexpectedly, Oeda yelled. "I REFUSE TO TELL YOU THAT!"

A glint flashed in Takumi's green eyes. "You dare raise your voice at me, you piece of shit?"

Oeda gasped, and somehow, all the oxygen in his lungs seemed to have disappeared.

"I'm not known to show mercy, Oeda," Takumi said, barely more than a whisper. "Tell me now, and you won't get your throat slit."

With a final gulp, Oeda whispered. "It's in a hidden island, five kilometers northwest from the longest port of the city pier. There's an artificial pathway though, but it's perfectly hidden by the water. You can get there by just walking on that pathway, with only your feet getting wet."

Takumi smirked. "So stupid of Igarashi to let the lower members know about their HQ . . . so damn stupid. I guess there's a password to get through? Or any security?"

"I don't know . . . I've never been there before."

"Oh, all right then. Bye-bye." Takumi stood once again, stabbing the man right on his chest.

He went back to the table, dragging Oeda's dead body, and thoroughly studied the city map again. Sliding the handgun he acquired from Oeda underneath his shirt, he put his black hoodie on.

Takumi sighed and glanced at the wall clock. 2:14am. _'Time to taste blood again . . .' _he thought, putting off the lights and locking Misaki's apartment door. Then he threw Oeda's dead body into the building's common restrooms.

xxx

Misaki Ayuzawa was screwed, literally.

She was strapped down by thick metal rings that were screwed down on a thicker plate of metal. Four bare steel walls surrounded her, a single door with a small glass window apparently locked stood in front of her. A white fluorescent bulb hung from the ceiling, serving as the only source of light in the room.

Misaki's eyes snapped open, so did the other person in the room.

Immediately, she tried to shout protests at the guy with a blank face staring at her unblinkingly, but she felt the tight, sticky substance plastered over her mouth and prevented her from doing so. With her whole body immovable, she resulted into glaring at the guy.

"You're awake," he stated, without a twitch of emotion on his spectacled eyes.

Misaki rolled her eyes, then glared more at him.

"Trust me; it's better if you don't move. You'll only get hurt," he said.

As if she didn't even hear the guy's advice, Misaki struggled her way to break the metal straps, violently thrashing her wrists and her upper body.

After a few good minutes of struggling, Misaki gave up. Sure she can break ropes and normal handcuffs, but this was _hard metal _for crying out loud. How the hell did she even end up here?

Then she remembered, about the scene that happened earlier – that she suddenly became unconscious in front of Tora. Misaki forced away the thoughts of the possibilities of Tora taking advantage of her, but she knew it might have happened anyway. She looked down, hoping she was still clothed, and thankfully, she still was clad in her jeans and shirt.

She stole a glance at the guy sitting on a chair just a few meters away from her. He was probably just around her age, a gray hoodie covering his black hair, and thick-rimmed glasses. _'Wait,' _Misaki thought, startled, _'that's Soutarou Kanou!'_

Misaki remembered him as the introverted lowerclassman from her high school days. She always thought he was suspicious, always wearing a hoodie over his uniform and not taking it off even during class. Rumors about his abilities of hypnotism also reached her ears. But as to why he was here, she realized it all – he was working for Tora's mafia!

Said allegedly but now proven perverted guy suddenly slammed the door open. Tora, slightly looking disheveled, received a bow and greeting from Kanou, but the blond boss ignored him and quickly unscrewed Misaki's metal straps.

Muffled sounds of what seemed to be ranting issued from Misaki's taped mouth. When Tora was finally done unscrewing, he pulled off the tape from Misaki's mouth and was about to grab his chance to kiss her, when another blond guy came bursting from the door.

"Yamato-san!" Misaki exclaimed, half in relief and half in confusion.

Tora didn't move, he just smirked at Takumi.

"Igarashi . . ." Takumi muttered. If glares could kill, then the other blond guy would have already dropped dead by now.

"Usui, I think I'm getting the picture now," Tora said with a slight smirk.

"_U – Usui_?" Misaki demanded, confused. "But I thought –"

Tora interrupted her. "Save your breath, Misaki-chan. What you thought was an angel over there is a big, fat liar."

"What do you mean?"

"I can explain, Ayuzawa!" Takumi suddenly yelled.

"Let me do the talking, Usui. I can handle it," Tora gentlemanly offered, his eyes glinting evilly. "Of course, the _proper _introduction – straight, orderly, and true; that liar there is truly named Usui Takumi, codename A0001. Ring a bell, Misaki-chan?"

"_NO! DON'T KILL THEM! JUST TAKE ME INSTEAD!"_

"_Oh really? That'd be awesome, thank you!"_

"_Ugh –!"_

_Splat!_

"_Pfft, so fucking weak . . ."_

_Rummage. Click!_

"_Hey, A0001 here, Kazuma Fugaku's assassination done. Hey, you, say a word about this anywhere and get your throats slit. I have ears _everywhere_, woman, _everywhere._"_

_Fading footsteps. Closed front door._

_Minako immediately went to Fugaku's dead body, crying over his bloody chest. Suzuna, who was then just a toddler, was spilling tears quietly beside Minako. While little Misaki . . . all she could see was blood, crimson red fluid all over the man's chest, and she didn't bother crying. One day, she was going to avenge her father, and kill his murderer._

"You . . ." Misaki whispered quietly.

"Assassin Zero Zero Zero One here was one heck of a teenager," Tora continued mischievously. "He was also a thief, a kidnapper, a seducer, _and _a killer. One day he betrayed our mafia, made his own, got caught by the police, and then he managed to live under the same roof as one of his unfortunate victim's daughter. Funny, right?"

Takumi looked away awkwardly, hardening his fist. "Sorry, Ayuzawa . . ."

Tora raised his brows in amazement. "Oh wow! Now look at that, he actually said _sorry_! It's not like a simple apology can bring back her father, does it now, Usui?"

Misaki gritted her teeth in overflowing anger. Tora smirked.

"YOU KILLED OTOU-SAN!" she suddenly burst, charging a fist towards the green-eyed man.

Takumi's quick reflexes acted up, blocking her punch with his palm, and instead of retaliating . . . he enveloped her into a tight embrace. Time stopped.

Then Takumi kissed her. Hard.

Then Misaki slapped him. Hard.


	9. Back to Square One

**Of Truth and Lies**

**Chapter 8: Back to Square One**

Takumi instantly heightened his alertness, adrenaline rushing through his veins. He saw Misaki throw a punch right at his way, and with a rather loud _smack_, he caught it with the palm of his hand.

Misaki was gritting her teeth, forcing each bit of her strength to somehow break through his palm and land a punch right on his face. She couldn't believe herself, how much more the truth? This man in front of her, who was supposedly a runaway rich guy, had actually killed her _father_, thus forcing her and her remaining family to live in dust until Minako found a job two years later. It was impossible for her not to react this way.

Then Takumi suddenly did something she never thought he would, and _certainly not_ in this particular situation of all things.

His arm quickly snaked around her petite waist, gripping her tightly that it slightly hurt her. Her chest slammed with his with the sudden impact, and the next thing she knew was that his lips already smashed onto hers.

Her heart throbbed so fast and she felt a heavy blush on her cheeks as his wet tongue did a quick swipe over her lower lip, vaguely asking for entrance. Misaki couldn't take the sudden imaginary weight stacked on her, but at the same time it felt so good and so tempting. _'No, I can't lose like this,' _she thought, barely focusing in her mind, when his tongue tasted a corner of her mouth.

'_NO!'_

Misaki's mind and body clashed against the will of her heart. Her hand stammered as she struggled to raise it. She felt him deepen their lip-lock, and she knew she couldn't take it anymore, no matter how convincing it was. Scooping every little bit of courage inside her, she hastily pushed Takumi's face sideward with the palm of her hand, gasping for air after.

She didn't even know that all of it happened in just a mere three seconds.

Tora watched agape at the short scene that unfolded right in front of him, just as dumbfounded and frozen as Kanou was. Takumi's face was dusted faint red, while Misaki's was as red as a tomato.

"Why the fuck did you do that for, you bastard?" Tora said through gritted teeth, glaring straight at Takumi.

Takumi, of course because of his ego, honestly didn't know the answer why he just kissed Misaki in the middle of a crisis, which was the one of the worst things to do during such a situation because countless possibilities could have happened in that short span of three seconds – one of it being backstabbed _literally _by Tora. And he definitely did not want the mafia boss to realize that either.

"ANSWER ME!" Tora yelled, and Misaki's spine practically shivered at his rage.

Misaki watched as Takumi silently glared at Tora, who was reciprocating the same level of deadliness. She didn't want to look at either of them, but she did admit that she wanted to know why Takumi suddenly kissed her like that.

Tora couldn't bottle his anger any longer, so he hoisted Takumi's hoodie collar and glared even more menacingly at him. Takumi didn't do the same, instead, he stoned his expression – a face devoid of any emotion, and Misaki never got scared of such a blank face before. The two blond men – one glaring, the other staring hard – remained in that position, and pressure-filled air consumed the silent atmosphere.

Upon feeling someone flick their hand sideways to the back of her neck, she quickly felt drowsy, then a second later, a loud thud echoed shortly from the spotless white walls of the room. Kanou stood behind the fallen Misaki, and both men had their eyes diverted to her collapsed form.

"What did you do to her?" snapped Takumi darkly, slightly resuming his glare at Kanou.

"I made her unconscious, just that," Kanou replied stiffly, then turned his gaze to Tora, who now had a calm expression. "She knows too much," he told his boss.

Tora exhaled and let go of his grip of Takumi's collar. "SOP, Kanou," he said, taking out a small dagger from the inside of his shirt while Kanou nodded and strode out of the room.

He then looked straight into Takumi's eyes, brows furrowed with a serious face. "I think I shall need to create a deal with you, A0001."

"I have a name, Igarashi, and you fully know that I'm not in your mafia anymore."

Tora smirked lightly. "Honestly, Usui . . . you were always the stubborn, annoying, hard-to-persuade one with the inflated ego."

"Don't remind me," Takumi said lowly.

"Oh? You don't want to remember what you were before? Want to _forget _what you were before? Surprising, it is, how that average girl softened you, but judging from my past interactions with her, I believe that she _does _have the ability to do that."

He heard Tora chuckle lowly. "She's really amazing . . . to have snapped some sense into your face when it was as hard as stone."

"The deal, Igarashi," Takumi said, "what's your deal?"

"The deal, of course. It's just a simple, rather childish and immature, deal, Usui, no need to get so stressed about it."

"Don't talk shit at me, go straight to the point."

Tora sighed teasingly. "Alright, I was just having some fun. This deal – is more like a trade. You fully give up on Misaki, and I fully give up on getting you back to the family **[1]**."

"You like her?" Takumi asked, almost disbelievingly. For Tora to make a deal _this _childish, Misaki must have been someone really valuable.

Tora smirked, which looked more like a small, evil smile. "It's more like, I'm attracted to her, both sexually and romantically."

Takumi raised his brows. "She's both blown something significant to our lives, but no, Igarashi."

"Are you implying that you won't give her up?" Tora asked, anger starting to drip in his tone again.

As if on cue, Kanou entered the room again, this time carrying a small vile of clear liquid. It was surely not water because it looked very thick.

Takumi and Tora watched as the bespectacled man dragged Misaki near to a wall and readjusted her arms and legs into a sitting position. He unscrewed the vile cork and tugged Misaki's chin downwards, opening her lips slightly but not waking her up. He then spilled all the contents of the vile into Misaki's mouth, down her throat, and almost immediately, she jerked from her unconsciousness.

Takumi was thinking – Why make Misaki unconscious when he's just going to let her drink reviving liquid afterwards? And then the thought hit him . . .

"_She knows too much." _Kanou had said, and Takumi remembered that this bespectacled, hooded guy was one of the mafia's prime aces – codename SouKa, a hypnosis and memory specialist – who joined Tora's mafia just before Takumi left them. He was going to erase Misaki's memories, and he wasn't very sure if he was going to erase just _this _event or all of her memories of him.

"Yes," Usui responded icily. "So you're going to play dirty and erase her memories of me instead?"

"As you very well know, I always play fair." Tora said.

Usui could almost snort at what he said – a mafia boss, play _fair_? Like a chance of a snowball in hell.

"Only her memories of this event are to be swept clean, to reassure that she won't spread bullshit and get my reputation ruined, as if it wasn't already – and that goes for your safety as well, Usui. She also knows that you're a criminal now, and knowing how _just _she is, she might report it to the police."

"You planned this all out, didn't you?"

"Not really, I was planning to let the gentleman façade dig into her permanently, since I wasn't planning to let her know anything about this mafia business going on. But there was a change of plans, of course. She just _needed _to know that she was actually the queen of the biggest mafia in Japan."

"And I'm sure she'll find about it sooner or later anyway," Usui said.

"I'll ask you once again, Usui. Are you saying that you won't give her up? Is she really that important to you? You can fuck any girl you want anytime, and she's nowhere as good as your standard women."

"Let's just say," Usui drawled, "that's she's just as important to me as much as she's important to you."

xxx

Misaki couldn't make out anything that the two blond men, whom she knew were Takumi and Tora, were saying. All their words were a blur to her ears. Add to that, her head was spinning so fast she wanted to sleep, but couldn't. Her eyes were drooping, but whenever it closed, it would always spring up again. The only things she could see were Kanou's spectacled face in front of her, and two blond men talking behind him.

"Ayuzawa Misaki," Kanou started to say, barely a whisper. "Forget anything that occurred to you from 2100 hours yesterday until the last moment you see before you lose your consciousness after this."

". . . she's just as important to me as much as she's important to you." Misaki was glad that she clearly heard what one of the blonds said, but she wasn't so sure as to who it was.

And he snapped his fingers before her eyes. Instantly, she lost her consciousness and her upper body limped again.

xxx

"Then let's take this to a contest then," Tora announced, eyes streaked with menacing glee. "The two of us do it the hard way, win her heart, and the loser is to forget about Misaki and whoever she ends up with. Swear you'll abide to it, Usui."

"I swear."

With that, Tora lifted the dagger he was holding and Takumi held up a finger to him. The dagger made a light cut, and blood immediately surfaced from the bottom of his epidermis. Tora then made a small cut on his finger, crimson red blood peeking out as well, and Takumi dripped the blood from his own finger to the cut on Tora's.

And their combined blood, along with their word to abide the rules of their game, dripped onto the floor, making a red taint on the pure white tiles it once were.

xxx

Sunlight streamed abundantly from the windows. Misaki stirred up from her sleep. She swore she had been dreaming something weird again, but she couldn't remember a faint glimpse of it.

She got out of bed, surprised as to why she was still wearing her outside clothes. She usually wore comfortable clothing whenever she went to sleep, but she might have just dozed off last night.

Misaki went through her daily morning routine, so when she was about to throw her empty noodle cup into the wastebasket, she noticed something that shouldn't be there – an empty can of beer. Now Misaki wasn't a kind of girl who would buy beer just because she was in the right age to do so, she didn't even remember buying it in the first place – but why was it there?

Ignoring this thought, she threw the empty noodle cup into the wastebasket, grabbed her bag, locked her door and proceeded to the college campus. When she was walking downstairs, she now really knew something wasn't right. The apartment's common restrooms were surrounded by yellow police lines, with investigators and the owner of the apartment crowding the place.

She approached a guy somewhere her age, looking in confusion at the scene as well.

"What happened?"

The guy shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno, just woke up this morning because the owner suddenly screamed from the bathroom, and then it went to this. They found a freshly murdered body, I heard."

Misaki frowned, took one more glance at the scene, and went on to school. When she was about to go out of the main entrance, the guy called her.

"Hey! Ayuzawa, right?" he said, approaching her.

"Yeah, do you need something?"

"You know, this is gonna sound weird, and somehow nosy, but . . . were you really that girl in that scandal video with Tora Igarashi?"

Misaki furrowed her brows. "I don't get what you mean. What scandal video? And _Igarashi_ of all people?"

The guy scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, there was this news shown last night, somewhere around 11 I think. It was a video submitted by a young woman – the reporter said – and there was this video about Igarashi and you, um . . . it was more like he was about to rape you, actually . . ."

"WHAT?" Misaki suddenly exclaimed. "But last night I was – last night . . ." her voice trailed off. She didn't have a reason why, but she had no memories whatsoever about what she did last night. She can still remember cleaning up the dishes at her part-time job, but what happened after that, it was just all a blur.

"Then just this morning, the news announced that the blond guy wasn't Tora Igarashi, instead, it was just a poser," the guy continued. "But I somehow don't believe it at all."

Misaki bit her lip. Why has her life suddenly gone weird all of a sudden? "I'm really sorry, but I just don't know what you're talking about. Bye."

With that, Misaki ran as fast as she could to the university.

xxx

"Misaki-chan! Here!" Sakura said cheerfully, waving at her from the campus entrance.

Misaki looked up, and a smile graced her face as she approached the pink haired girl.

Shizuko and Shintani were standing on either side of Sakura, and both had weird looks on their faces.

"Misaki-chan," Sakura's voice changed from into a serious tone, and Misaki flinched about it. "Are you all right? Did Igarashi-kun hurt you? Ugh! I can't believe why I trusted that guy – he was actually –"

"Calm down, Sakura," Shizuko said, scowling at Misaki almost pityingly.

"But Shizuko-chan, you saw it too! It was definitely Misaki and Igarashi in that video – in fact," Sakura dropped her voice into a whisper. "_I _was the one who submitted the video! I saw the whole thing with my eyes! I'm not lying!"

"Misaki," Shintani cut in. "Tell us everything about what happened last night, because I don't get anything at all!" His voice was slowly becoming louder with each word, mixed with anger and concern. "If the news was true, then why are you still here, perfectly all right? Did he – did he . . ."

Misaki looked worryingly at Shintani. He was always concerned about her, and he did that ever since they were children. "Shintani, I'm okay."

"Did he bring you home and slept with you?"

"W – WHAT?" she exclaimed, shocking Sakura and Shizuko as well. She was blushing hard, and her words were stammering. "N – no way! _That _did _not _happen!"

Shintani looked at her with complete relief and happiness, and stared at her amber eyes like she was a saint who helped him get through a problem. "I'm relieved. Thank you, Misaki!"

He hugged Misaki so tightly she almost couldn't breathe – but a vague flash of a memory appeared in her mind just for a second.

_[His arm quickly snaked around her petite waist, gripping her tightly that it slightly hurt her. Her chest slammed with his with the sudden impact, and the next thing she knew was that his lips already smashed onto hers.]_

"NO!" she yelled, and yanked her body away from Shintani's embrace. "Don't – don't . . ."

Sakura and Shizuko stood speechless and frozen at Misaki's reaction, but it shocked and hurt Shintani more.

"Misaki . . ." he muttered dementedly.

"What – oh my – I'M SO SORRY!" Misaki bowed, muttering apologies and how she didn't know why she did that in the first place.

The bell rang, signaling the start of classes. The four hurriedly went to their respective classrooms.

As they strode the lengths of the hallways, Shintani found himself wondering, _'What's wrong with Misaki?'_

**xxx**

**[1] **– _'family' is another term for 'mafia,' though its members tend to call their organization as a 'family' because in mafias, loyal brotherhood is always observed, and partly to call their mafia affectionately – or that's how I understand it _XD

_Um, sorry I'm late! I just got lost on the path of life, or rather . . . I just started a new obsession with that particular ninja manga which I completely adored when I was in grade school, then came back to me after a few years with a blast, and now I like it even more than before._

_Anyways, um . . . this fanfic is going to be more on crime, so of course there will be profanities, violence and such, but I assure you that the romance will bloom as the story progresses. I just won't let you know who Misaki will end up with _;)

_Review? _:3


	10. Love in the Air

**Of Truth and Lies**

_Um, yeah . . . KWMS is not mine. Virtual oreos for the reviewers! _:3

**Chapter 9: Love in the Air**

". . . and are essential for bone formation, tooth formation, blood clotting, muscle contraction and relaxation, and in normal heart functioning. Deficiency of calcium may result to poor tooth formation, delayed blood clotting, porous bones, and rickets." Their teacher stopped reading aloud, and peered at a certain glassy-eyed student over her spectacles.

Other students began to stare at Misaki as well, brows furrowing at their classmate's very unusual behavior.

"Ayuzawa-san," their teacher said sternly, but Misaki didn't seem to have heard what she said. "Ayuzawa-san," she said again, though louder.

Whispers aroused from the class, and Misaki's reverie still haven't snapped.

"Ayuzawa-san!"

"Y – yes!" Misaki jerked from her seat, amber eyes wide at the sight of her glaring teacher.

"Are you feeling well?"

"Uh . . . yes, sensei . . ."

Their teacher narrowed her eyes at Misaki, who was laughing awkwardly and muttering apologies.

"You certainly don't look like you're very well." She looked around the class, which immediately turned silent. "Hinata-san, take Ayuzawa-san to the infirmary."

"But sensei! I'm just fine –" Misaki started to protest.

"Nonsense! I expect a model student like _you_, Ayuzawa-san, to be much more alert next time. Anyway, have you been eating well?"

"I – I think so . . ."

"Well." Their teacher sighed. "You don't want your grades to be dropping, now, do you? Get on with it, Hinata-san."

Shintani nodded nervously and accompanied an indeed paler-than-usual Misaki out of the classroom.

xxx

"Honestly, Shintani, I'm fine!" Misaki said, trying to convince Shintani with a twitching smile. "I even ate a full breakfast earlier!"

"I know you can't cook very well, and I also know that you _always_ eat either bread or cupped noodles for breakfast, and I don't really consider either of those as a full breakfast," Shintani stated, quickening his strides through the corridors on the way to the infirmary.

"But, Shintani –"

"Misaki," he said, suddenly seriously yet his voice still showed hints of concern. "You know I'm always paranoid about you . . . but please, what _really _happened last night?"

"I told you, I wasn't that girl in that video with Igarashi! I was safe at home last night!" _'I think so . . .' _she added inwardly. Misaki wasn't very sure about what happened last night either. It was just all a blur.

"Sakura _saw _it all herself, and she was also the one who submitted the video, so it's impossible that you weren't that girl! Why do you keep on denying that fact?"

"But it's what _I _remember . . ."

"Misaki, please don't keep secrets from me."

"I'm not! Trust me, Shintani . . ." Misaki's voice trailed off as they both locked eyes.

Because of the thickening awkward silence, Shintani cleared his throat. "Let's . . . just drop that subject. Come on."

Misaki's cheeks almost overheated when he suddenly grabbed her hand while they walked. Of all the years they were together, this was the very first time their hands touched. She never knew he had such a warm hand, though it was evident of scratches and roughness.

'_This feeling,' _she thought, _'is almost surreal.'_

xxx

[top floor, Igarashi Group Headquarters, Tokyo]

"Sir."

His secretary's baritone voice made him swivel his seat and face the newcomer. Raising his brows when he recognized the familiar face of his son, Igarashi Ryosuke flashed a mischievous smirk.

The secretary bowed and exited the room, leaving a soft click of the door echo inside the extravagant head office. As soon as the echo subsided, the room drowned in silence. Two blond men of the same blood stared at each other, neither one moving a muscle.

Then the older Igarashi spoke, abandoning his smirk. "Tora," he said.

"Otou-sama," Tora replied, making a slight nod.

"I need a true and complete explanation of last night's events."

Before speaking, Tora weighed the consequences if he told the truth or mix up a believable story. When he finally made his choice, he began. "I went to visit my girlfriend –"

"Who _is _this _girlfriend _you speak of?"

Tora's features threw back a smirk very reminiscent of his father's. "We shall speak about that _later on_, otou-sama."

Ryosuke, understanding the little curious secret behind Tora's words, tilted his head, gesturing for his son to continue.

"As I was saying, I went to visit my girlfriend, who works part-time in a restaurant downtown. I was very careless last night, not bringing bodyguards to surround the area, though I was eager to have a little private time with her. And that little carelessness fruited into . . . that scandal video."

"And careless you were," Ryosuke said, frowning in disappointment. "Not only did it cause the media to pressure the company for a press conference, it also caused the Igarashi name to be tainted. There was also a 0.2% decrease in the daily international profit. What will you do to make up for this, you brat?"

Tora gulped and he could feel a bead of sweat trail down the side of his forehead. Mustering up an evil grin, he said, "You see, otou-sama, there was this little _family _incident that two college students, who are still breathing until now, witnessed. One of them was a male, the other was a female, and she has very much caught my interest. That event caused me to research about the girl, and from the information I have gathered, she has a quite . . . interesting family background."

"And this _interesting family background _is _what_, exactly?"

The younger Igarashi let out a dark chuckle. "I can certainly make up for that 0.2% decrease, otou-sama."

"Spit it out, boy!"

"That girl . . . happens to be my girlfriend, Ayuzawa Misaki. You _do _know who your long-time rival married, don't you, otou-sama? Or rather . . . _what _he married."

On Ryosuke's aged features, a grin of greed and glee showed up. "I see what you are trying to do, my son."

xxx

Night arrived. Shintani and Misaki just finished their shifts at the restaurant, and were both preparing to go home.

And Shintani wasacting weird today. Misaki, being with him for the most of her life, unfailingly noticed this.

"Hey, Shintani," she said, pulling her bag up to her shoulder.

"Y – yeah?"

'_There's definitely something bugging him today,' _Misaki thought. "Something wrong?"

"N – nothing . . ."

"Shintani!" Misaki groaned. "Tell me – _now_. I'm always paranoid about you too, you know."

Upon seeing Misaki's heavenly (in Shintani's eyes) smile dawn upon him, his heart almost melted, just like it always did when he saw Misaki do pretty things like that. "Just this morning you refused to tell me what was wrong, and now you're doing it. Funny, right? Hehe!" He pushed a thumb on the side of his nose, grinning idiotically at her as a deep blush appeared on his cheeks.

Misaki, though she admitted it was somehow funny, was not amused, but did not push the topic further. They both stood and made their leave from the restaurant, locking it, and then walked their way home as always.

But for Misaki and Shintani, it didn't felt like this walk was going to be like _as always_. There was this unusual, sickly feeling in the air that naturally made both of them randomly blush, and they didn't like every second of it.

When they turned around a familiar corner, Shintani stuttered up. "U – um, Misaki?"

"Yeah?"

"This is where – you know – we met that mafia . . ."

Misaki looked at the alley, and immediately the memories of that day flashed through her mind. The black-clad men, their boss, the muscular man that caught them, the girl who almost got raped, and how they escaped the clutches of an actual mafia – which wasn't a common occurrence. She nodded and muttered, "I remember."

"Mhmphm . . ." Shintani obviously didn't have anything more in mind on what to say, but after ten minutes, he spoke up again. "Misaki, h – how are you and Igarashi-san? I mean, after last night's scandal, I heard some people talk about, um . . . how the two of you were in a – a _non-romantic _mutual relationship – something like, he uses you for, um, you know what it is – and you using him for, um . . . his money and all. B – but I don't believe those rumors at all! I mean – I mean, uh, you both love each other fairly, r – right?"

She almost jerked at his question, then she let out a fake chuckle. "Oh, that . . . well, you see, we're just a fresh . . . couple, and he still haven't taken me on a proper date yet, but . . . yeah, he is really gentlemanly. And as for the 'we both love each other fairly' thing . . . I can't really answer that yet."

Misaki inwardly slapped and smacked herself at how she described her relationship with Tora. The guy was too gentlemanly it was almost fake! Anyone could see that! Were they blind or something? She was getting more embarrassed with every passing second. Shintani and she didn't really have this kind of girly conversations a lot, as it was almost ignored.

And now here they were, talking about her boyfriend in front of his guy best friend.

"Misaki, d'you remember when we were still in high school?"

'_Change topic, eh?' _she thought, and this made her chuckle. He thanked the heavens for being one of the fortunate to actually see her chuckle like that.

"Of course I do, idiot Shintani! And hell, I still remember when I was the renowned first female president of Seika High! The once smelly, stinky, heck of a boys school transformed into a much better high school for boys and girls now! And _I _started it." Misaki told him proudly, reminiscing through her high school memories.

"You always shouted at the guys for misbehaving and stuff, but that trait kind of faded away now, and I sort of miss it. I guess college and living alone makes you more mature. And oh! The guys actually thought you were a demon, but I think you're an angel sent from above!"

Crickets. Silence. Crickets. More awkward silence.

"N – NO! NO NO NO NO NO! Damn, that sounded wrong . . ." Shintani facepalmed, almost wanting to forever hide from Misaki's shocked stare.

The two of them were both blushing madly, and they were thankful that it was very dark so they couldn't see how red the other's face was. Misaki could only look at Shintani with wide, dumbstruck amber eyes. Sure, he complemented her every now and then, but . . . _'Was that his first pick-up line?'_ she thought, reddening even more at the thought.

Shintani took a deep breath, and shook off the heat on his cheeks. He stood in front of Misaki, gripped her shoulders tightly, and his own eyes dug their intense yet sincere gaze into hers.

"M – Misaki . . . I – I . . ." he tore his gaze away from her, and bent his head down. "There's no turning back on this, Hinata Shintani!" he whispered to himself, though Misaki could still hear him.

"Shintani, what's going –"

"Misaki! I love you! Please be my girlfriend!"

Forget the awkward silence, this was _humiliating _silence. Both of their faces were red, both of them standing under the moonlight, both of their hearts beating so fast, both pairs of their eyes staring at each other, one pair shining with hope and pleading, the other confused and at the same time somehow happy.

"I . . ." Misaki started, and Shintani desperately strained his ears for each word. ". . . will think about it."

His bright face saddened a little, but he still had a sincere smile. "I won't let you rush. I'll wait for it."

Misaki stared at his face fully and saw something she hadn't seen on Shintani before. Under the eerie glow of the moonlight, the contours and features on his face were sharper, and with that honest smile on his lips, he almost looked very handsome. Scratch the _almost_, he certainly did look very handsome, and she just noticed that fact NOW – after years and years and years of seeing him every single day since childhood. Heck, even the short scar on the side of his right eye even made a new definition of handsome.

"Um, there's something I want to give you," he said, taking something from his pocket. He lifted her hand very gently and placed an object on her palm.

"A shell necklace?" she asked.

"Nah, nah, it's a necklace with a shell." He cheekily grinned, and soon after, both of them were laughing loudly in the middle of the dark and silent street.

"T – that was the lamest joke I've ever heard!" Misaki spurted out between fits of laughter.

"But you still laughed at it, right?"

The laughter faded a few seconds after, and she took the moment to look at the necklace some more. It was a small shell that had a very hard surface although it looked fragile on the outside. It was peach colored, with streaks of dark brown, sienna, and white. Knotted on the top of the shell was a silver cord that shone when moonlight struck on it.

"You like it?" he asked.

"Very much," she replied. "Thanks, Shintani-kun!"

His grin went back his face again. "So we're back with the _kun _now, aren't we?"

"Don't flatter yourself." Misaki smacked his elbow playfully, though it rather hurt him a bit. "Come on, it's getting really late."

xxx

The two separated paths after a while, and Misaki found herself inwardly humming to herself, unaware of the small curves at the ends of her lips as she walked. Then she reached a memorable road where a handsome blond guy once lay across on. She frowned at the thought that said handsome blond guy was waiting for her at her apartment, one that she happened to consider as an outer-space perverted alien.

She sighed. "I wonder when that idiot Yamato will ever leave . . ." She hated to admit it, but she _did _like the feeling of having company in her apartment. And bonus points for having a _handsome blond guy_ as company in her apartment. She increased her speed, just wanting to study for tomorrow's lessons and maybe have some welcome-back cookies if Yamato was feeling thoughtful, which was highly possible in her imagination.

To sum up her current lovelife up to now – she has a boyfriend, she has her guy best friend courting her, and she has a crush on her 'adopted roommate.' And Misaki was unaware of how it was going to get all screwed up in the future.

**xxx**

_The icky lovey-dovey stuff is blooming ._._

_Moe moe rebbyu desu?_


End file.
